Winter Solstice Dawn Illuminates the Passage of Newgrange
Gallery Edition: Limited edition of 75 prints in three sizes, printed on fine art heavyweight archival paper.
At dawn on the winter solstice, the rising sun appears over the horizon at 8.55am local time. Within a few minutes, a long, dagger-like beam of light enters the chamber of the passage tomb, not through the door but through a specially contrived opening built above and behind the entrance. For almost twenty minutes, the beam of light grows longer and broadens out as it sweeps across the chamber floor.
As the sun rises higher, the light begins to narrow once more and slowly withdraws into the passageway, illuminating 5,000 year old carvings with its golden reflected light.
This photograph was chosen for the cover of the journal Nature when the article on the analysis of ancient DNA at Newgrange and other Neolithic sites was published in 2020. For many scientists and researchers, having your work published in Nature is a career highlight, for me personally, having my photograph appear on the cover is an honor of no less value.
Note: This photograph has been used in other media, magazine covers and articles. A small number, less than 10, were created for special orders. The number of limited editions in the print run has been reduced accordingly.